KOLKATA: Three prominent private hospitals in Kolkata, West Bengal are in a soup over the death of three patients including a child. Police informed that family members of a two year old girl demonstrated at the Mukundapur unit of a private hospital alleging maltreatment and negligence and demanding action against those responsible.
The victim was admitted with acute respiratory distress with cough and hoarseness and high fever. “She was admitted to the paediatric ward of the hospital on Monday and her condition improved this morning. But she was injected some medicine following which her condition deteriorated. We were told that she needed oxygen but no oxygen cylinder was provided following which our baby died,” a grieving family member said. However, an AMRI Mukundapur spokesperson countered the charges saying proper treatment was undertaken and there was no medical negligence on the hospital's part. “We have set up an investigation committee to look into the incident,” he said.
Hospital authorities said unit head of AMRI Mukundapur, Jayanti Chatterjee, has been asked to go on leave till investigations are over. The hospital has also lodged a complaint with the police alleging physical harassment of paediatric unit head, who happens to be a female, and attempted vandalism of the hospital premises by the child's family members.
Similarly, there was an agitation at another private hospital in Kolkata, when a middle aged man died of respiratory complaints when he was not allowed admission. The victim's family has alleged that medical negligence, adding that they had reached the hospital with the patient in an ambulance in the evening, but was left waiting unattended despite repeated requests to the hospital authorities for admission. “No doctor came to see the patient, and when one doctor came the next morning, he was declared dead. Who will be held responsible for his death? We want justice,” a relative said.
